Category Archives: homemade

Baked Chicken over Red Quinoa and Asparagus, Dandelion and Fennel Salad

I’ve turned into a quinoa lover and I might as well grow my armpit hair. Did I just say that? :o)

Nothing against armpit hair but I have everything against not discovering quinoa, its tiny pearls that release a nutty and grainy flavor to the bite. They are versatile and may be used as a substitute for rice. Its low glycemic index even allows unlimited consumption in some diets. To top it all off, it’s an excellent source of vegan protein, lysine, calcium, phosphorus, and iron. That is hard to beat in a grain.

Red quinoa (keen-wah) has South American origins, the Incans considering it ‘the mother of all grains’ and regarding it highly enough that it threatened European colonizers who prohibited its cultivation and ordered the Incans to grow wheat instead. Seriously. (More quinoa info here).

Red Quinoa and Asparagus
1/2 cup red quinoa
1 cup water
1/2 cup asparagus stems cut into 1/4 inch rounds
1 teaspoon olive oil
Salt to taste

Prepare quinoa by boiling 1 cup water then adding the quinoa. Turn the heat down for 15 minutes, adding asparagus in the last 3.Quinoa is cooked when it turns slightly transparent and the tails become visible. Season with salt and olive oil.

Baked Chicken

4 lean chicken pieces (I like Murray’s Organic, the pieces are small and tasty)
Juice of 1 lemon
Salt and Pepper

Marinate chicken in lemon juice, salt and pepper overnight. Pat dry and arrange in a greased baking dish and bake in a pre-heated oven at 400C for 45 minutes, then brown in broiler for 3-5 minutes.

Dandelion Leaves and Fennel Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette

1/2 medium fennel bulb, slivered
1 bunch dandelion leaves, cut into salad pieces
Juice of 1 lemon
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
Ground pepper

Whisk together lemon juice, olive oil, sugar, sald and pepper to make lemon vinaigrette. Toss with fennel and dandelion and serve promptly.

Truffled Pumpkin Ravioli, Rapini with Red Pepper Flakes

Daikon & Carrot Pickles – Vietnamese Style

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Why make your own pickles? Because they are fresh, nutritious, and you know for sure what goes in the bottle.

Trivia: Did you know that traditional pickled cucumbers have zero calories? I bet you didn’t, but I would still advise against eating a jar of it because of its sodium content.

Anyway we’ve been wanting to make pickled daikon and carrots for a while, especially because we love them in banh mis at Nicky’s or other Vietnamese restaurants. They have a sweet and tart finish to their subtle crunch, a perfect mate to salty or strongly flavored dishes.

Carrots and daikon are cut into 2-inch pieces, mixed with salt and sugar
until they are soft enough to bend without breaking, and then rinsed.

Mix the pickling solution (mine is yellow because I used brown sugar).

Jars are filled and pickling solution is added.

Off to the fridge we go! So yummy!

Vietnamese Pickled Carrots and Daikon

(recipe adapted from the mama of NB of Kanannie)

4 medium carrots

4 medium daikon

2 teaspoons salt

4 teaspoons plus one cup sugar

2.5 cups white vinegar

2 cups warm water

Cut carrots and daikon into 2-inch strips. Mix by hand 2 teaspoons salt and 4 teaspoons sugar until daikon and carrots get soft and you can bend a piece without breaking it, about 4-5 minutes. Rinse in cold water and strain.

Arrange in glass pickle jars.

Mix pickling solution in a bowl: 1 cup sugar, vinegar and water until sugar is dissolved. Fill pickle jars and cover. Pickles are good beginning the following day and last 4-6 weeks in the fridge. Don’t forget to date them so you don’t forget!

(Additional pickling solution may be made using this formula: 1 part sugar, 2 parts water, 2.5 parts vinegar)

Pasta with Salsa Amaya – Herring, Sundried Tomato, Capers, Olives, Mushrooms and Garlic

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One of the things I request from friends or relatives visiting from Manila is Connie’s Kitchen Salsa Amaya. It is a bottled blend of herring, olives, mushrooms and herbs soaked in olive oil.

I saute some garlic to bring out some flavors and stir in the bottle’s contents to come up with a flavorful sauce.

I toss some cooked pasta in and serve it promptly, the aroma unmistakably Filipino but with an Italian twist.

This definitely cannot be found in any New York Restaurant menu. Somebody patent it, quick!

And if you are a friend who would like to be on my good side, please ship me some Connie’s Kitchen goodies. Other favorites include Kippers in Capers, Herring in Oil, Daing na Bangus, and Tinapate.

Drool.

Salad: Kale, Cara Cara Orange, Lemon Vinaigrette

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After being able to make a simple kale salad, we were introduced to raw kale and explored other ways of preparing it, especially the possibility of excluding cheese. We had dinner at Amorina the previous evening and had their wonderful salad of arugula, Cara Cara orange, and lemon vinaigrette, which inspired this creation below.

I love the deep green hues of kale contrasting with the dark pink of the cara cara. The lemon vinaigrette coats the kale nicely and gives it a nice softening flavor. The citrus is refreshing and makes the salad a great companion to anything hearty or rich.

Here I served it with baked brussels sprouts (coated in olive oil and rock salt, 350C for 20 minutes), and baked chicken pieces (marinated in lemon, salt and pepper, baked at 400C for 45 minutes).

Kale with Cara Cara Salad

Ingredients:
1/2 bunch kale, cut into strips
1 cara cara orange, peeled and sliced

Dressing:
juice of 1 lemon
1/2 tsp salt
1 tablespoon olive oil

Whisk dressing ingredients until blended. Toss kale until coated.
Arrange orange pieces on top. Mangia!

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